ROTARY CLUB SCREENS METH VIDEO

Life or meth. What will you choose?

A video of the progress of the Maple Ridge Crystal Meth Task Force was
screened Tuesday before a crowd of supporters at the Gourmet Hideaway
Restaurant, to showcase what has been done and highlight cases of local
recovering methamphetamine addicts.

The video, entitled Life or Meth, deals with the frightening culture
surrounding crystal meth and its damaging and potentially fatal
side-effects on users.

Produced by the Meadowridge Rotary Club, which launched the task force last
summer, Life or Meth consists of commentary from people involved in the
task force as well as several recovering addicts.

Mary Robson started the task force as rotary president.

"As we look around us we see people dying every week from this drug, and it
becomes more and more terrifying," said her husband, Gord Robson, a task
force member.

He stressed the task force is not about removing people from Maple Ridge
itself so as to create a false sense of having rectified the problem, but
rather it moves people internally, most commonly to the Salvation Army shelter.

Nearby communities, like Tri-City, do not have shelters. Coquitlam police
have been found dropping off addicts at the Salvation Army in Maple Ridge
because there is nowhere else they can put them where there is help, Robson
said. "We're becoming pretty much a triage centre."

The RCMP believes that meth is primarily responsible for an overwhelming
percentage of property crimes and car thefts in the area.

To help combat that, Maple Ridge recently became the first community in
Canada to launch the Meth Watch awareness campaign, providing information
to retailers aboutcommon household products used to make meth.

School board chair Cheryl Ashlie said in the video the school board has put
together programs for elementary and high school aged children.

Court watch was re-established in the community to ensure there is no
catch-and-release type system being employed.

Psychiatric liaison nurses were hired at Ridge Meadows Hospital, as they
are specially trained to deal with mental health issues like addiction.

Since the task force's inception, RCMP Cst. Chuck Glover said there has
been a reduction in "hardcore street people", from 43 to 38. Gord Robson
said they hope to lower this to 20 by June.

Life or Meth is to go on sale Wednesday for $20.